By Kim Jae-won
Korea was ranked 29th ahead of Japan and China in a globalization survey, which focused on the degree of convenience in the movement of goods and capital.
Asia’s fourth largest economy earned an average of 4.13 points in Ernst & Young’s Globalization Index.
The index measures a nation’s degree of globalization by using its gross domestic product (GDP) as a comparison basis. China and Japan were listed 39th and 40th, respectively, garnering 3.56 and 3.47 points.
“The Ernest & Young index shows that Korea beat Japan and China in globalization thanks especially to advantages in the movement of goods and services category,” said Ryu Jin, a spokesman for Ernst & Young Hanyoung, the Korean partner of the U.K.-based international accounting and consulting company.
Korea marked 5.2 points in the movement of goods and services field while Japan and China earned 4 and 4.3 points, respectively. In terms of the movement of capital and finances, all three Asian countries were in a similar range above 4 points.
Small-sized Asian and European countries and economies were ranked in the upper levels.
Hong Kong topped, receiving 7.42 points, followed by Ireland and Singapore which posted 7.24 and 6.88, respectively. Belgium came fourth earning 5.81, while Sweden placed fifth with 5.72.
Ernst & Young expected that globalization will continue to advance this year, especially in medium-sized emerging markets such as Vietnam, Malaysia, Mexico and Colombia as well as smaller European countries such as Denmark, Slovakia and Austria.
But, the global accounting and consulting company forecast that globalization scores of the U.K. and the U.S. will decline modestly in the next three years as both countries will introduce immigration rules that will hurt the hiring of foreign nationals.
“While globalization continues apace regardless of weaker growth around the world, the specter of protectionism remains a threat,” James Turley, chairman and CEO of the company, said in a statement.
The index measures and tracks the performance of the world’s 60 largest economies according to 20 separate indicators that capture the key aspects of cross-border integration of business. The indicators fall into five broad categories: openness to trade, capital movements, exchange of technology and ideas, labor movements and cultural integration.